Accountants ‘confused’ over Saudi license plan

Confusion prevails among accountants as the Saudi Commission for Certified Accountants (SCCA) has proposed a certified test for them in the Kingdom for judging their abilities and root out those who do not have licenses.Some of the accountants wanted to know whether the proposed test is going to be conducted for all of them or only for certified accountants.The SCCA has already started communicating with related government departments in this connection, according to reports.Ahmad Al-Mughames, SCCA general secretary, said the organization is working on the modalities of the proposed test. If the test is confined only to professional and certified accountants, “then there is no problem,” according to some professional accountants. Nabi Khan, a senior certified accountant who works for a major business group, said most of the expatriates employed as accountants would be able to pass the SCCA test without any hassle as they have a professional background.The Jeddah chapter of Indian Institute of Chartered Accountants welcomed the move. A. A. Merchant, chief financial officer of a leading business organization, said: “The move will weed out persons who do not possess required qualifications yet operating as certified accountants. Most of the certified accountants among Asian expatriates are well qualified and can easily pass any ability test.” He, however, added that he would make any further comment only after studying the test proposal in full.Adil Sanai, a Saudi accounting professional and working for a major bank, said the test would be helpful to assert professionalism and skills. “When engineers and doctors are having their tests why not accountants.”